Life has its seasons.
Friendships ebb and flow.
Close ties can be stretched
to breaking
by busyness, distance, time.
All the masks we wear
to survive our lives
keep others at arm’s length –
build inner walls in layers
by years.
Time moves on,
leaves gaps in its pattern
where friends should be.
Wounds of the heart, hidden
but not healed.
— Christine Rigden